2023-09-19 | Oshawa, Canada | Mike Lemon | It Is Written Canada
Everyone who has ever experienced the death of a loved one knows the feeling: the pain ebbs and flows, but the ache never goes away.
God Himself knows for He lost His own Son to the cruel clutches of death.
Though you have faith in the promise that one day “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain,” it still hurts.
However, I have discovered something that hurts even more than death: watching a loved one walk away from God.
René and I receive one prayer request more than any other: “Please, pray for my children.” These parents are crushed.
Why are we losing so many of our children and grandchildren? What can we do to stem the tide of young people leaving our churches?
Since we have worked with youth for most of our careers, René and I know that only God can raise the dead. We are like Ezekiel standing in a valley of dry bones, which the LORD identifies as His people, who say, “Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!” (Ezekiel 37:11).
He replies, “O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, …Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, … Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it” (Ezekiel 37:12-14).
I think you will agree with us: It’s now time for action.
It’s time for God’s people to unite in prayer, for He has promised: “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Jesus knows what we’re up against. “As the world’s Redeemer, Christ was constantly confronted with apparent failure. He, the messenger of mercy to our world, seemed to do little of the work He longed to do in uplifting and saving. Satanic influences were constantly working to oppose His way. But He would not be discouraged” (The Desire of Ages, pg. 679).
Do not be discouraged.
Jesus relentlessly pursues each one who is “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), working to break the spell of the evil one and set the captive free.
Whether your children are 1 or 101 years old, they are still your children. René and I sense the LORD guiding us to facilitate a Canada-Wide Call to Prayer for our Children, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Canada has set aside September 30 – October 7, 2023, for this purpose.
We would like to ask you and your local church family to set aside this time to pray (and fast, if the LORD puts that on your heart) for our children who have given up on God, for He has NOT given up on them. He loves our children, and He promises us: “For I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children” (Isaiah 49:25).
Please visit: https://itiswrittencanada.ca/CallToPrayer/ for more information.
Thank you for your ongoing support of It Is Written Canada, and may God continue to bless you with abundant faith in His faithfulness!
~ Mike Lemon
